Does Gonzo approve of the Italian watch brands? – Team CW wonders

Luxury watches, to the most of us, do not go beyond the Swiss borders; only the truly horologically erudite glides into the French, English, German and Japanese realms and uncovers unprecedented pieces that stand ground on their own merits. Add to this list a republic in southern Europe, famous for its artworks and its luxury auto industry, a part of which also influences the fascination of the countless who love to wear the brand as a part of their regular or occasional ensembles.

Italy is one, lesser-known big player in the watch industry, driven by the obsessive bent of mind that has transformed into a love affair by a few enterprising individuals. The Italian watch making tradition exists and is very much alive but just like a Maserati or a Lamborghini isn’t everyone’s cuppa, so are the Italian brands of the wristwears. They are vastly different from the fashion brands like Gucci or Armani; are designed to worthwhile specifications and offer a special perspective at par with today’s luxury watch industry.

We are soon to see here brands like Morellato and Trussardi that well compete with the main stream luxury brands like the Panerai. Despite being called Suisse nowadays, it too has its roots travelling down to the Italian soils. Maybe the Furla, Maserati, Morellato and Trussardi are not as popular as the Panerai, but are high-quality, innovative and beautiful timepieces none the less. Few others are the Anonimo, Tommasso Buti, Officina Del Tempo and U-Boat; however, these will take few more days to show up on the pages of Creation Watches. However, fret not; the first four brands are enough to provide a good perspective of the general philosophy behind watch making in Italy. The Florentine watch making tradition shows through them quite a bit; it would be better for quite a few many globally renowned watch brands to follow their philosophy of focusing on quality rather than branding.

Not just the movements, the Italian watch brands also put a lot of emphasis on the cases; a typical Florentine tradition that also bore the cases of the Rolex Oyster and the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore. The idea is to carve them out of chunks of metal to retain the metal’s maximum structural strength as opposed to stamping into shape thin slices of metal. The rest, well; it’s just the expertise of the specialized craftspeople that brings over the well defined and sometimes, weirdly-angular and intricate shapes. The PVD blackening is also something that belongs to these Italian watch manufacturers. They are the pioneers of the process and is used for both steel and titanium models.

Now, there are numerous other Italian watch brands, but the few that were spoken about here well represents the Italians as expert horologers. They are characterized by small production numbers, a manual craftsmanship and a distinctive and magnificent flare and if you can wait for a bit longer, you shall be able to appreciate even a few accessories that demonstrate the Italian appreciation for luxury watches.

Watch(es) mentioned in this post are listed below. Click to see details and buy them: